DIY … ish … this week

I’ve been on cloud 9 all week after getting a few “likes” and comments, and a couple of new followers (quite likely my relatives / high school BFFs writing under assumed names), on account of the last post (Paging Mom! If you would please write more of that good stuff …). Then I tried writing a new post myself but got the jitters (You should know that my mom’s a professional writer with 5 books to her name; I am NOT, so pretty please be kind). So I left the Mac to simmer for a bit and got busy. With other things. More specifically, a DIY-ish project.

Hubby’s having some friends over for an al fresco dinner Saturday night so I decided that we badly needed an outdoor buffet table / bar for our lanai. But after talking to a few local designers and furniture makers, the cost for the look we were going for was way too prohibitive (I couldn’t believe how expensive it was to have something that’s supposed to look natural / rustic made). So in the end we decided to keep it simple (and cheap). So I managed to steal 2 10-foot yakal planks which my mom bought from a local junk shop some months ago (yakal is a Philippine hardwood that is used for house beams and trusses).

I loved the notches where the joists were supported by the beam.

The planks had been rotting in my mom’s backyard for months. So I hired a handyman to try to breathe new life into the worn wood. The design is, uhrrmm (drum roll please), mine (inspired, of course, by hundreds of online designs – thank you Houzz!). We decided to keep the notches — and all the holes and other imperfections of the wood; I love furniture with a past!

Used motor oil was poured over the right leg for that weathered look (great for weatherproofing, too) and 2 coats of furniture wax were smoothed over the top and left leg after sanding.

The (close to) final product: an outdoor buffet / bar that is unique in all the world: